Washington’s Lottery will shut down if lawmakers can’t agree on budget

Washington’s Lottery will shut down if lawmakers can’t agree on budget

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

OLYMPIA — Washington’s Lottery will suspend all operations if lawmakers can’t pass the state’s operating budget by midnight on Friday, June 30, 2017.

That means no Lottery tickets will be sold, and no winning tickets will be redeemed in the state of Washington for any game until the shutdown is over.

This includes Scratch games, jackpot games and multi-state jackpot games such as Powerball and Mega Millions.

Washington’s Lottery will also not conduct any jackpot game drawings during the shutdown period. This includes drawings for Match 4, Daily Game, Daily Keno, Lotto or Hit 5.

During suspended operations, players who have a winning ticket should sign the back of the ticket and keep it in a secure location. Once Washington’s Lottery services are restored, players will be able to redeem winning tickets.

The Lottery is just one of many state-run programs that will be suspended if a budget deal isn’t reached.

Notices went out last week to about 32,000 state workers warning them they will be temporarily laid off if a budget is not in place by the deadline. A partial shutdown would affect everything from community supervision of offenders on probation, to meal services to the elderly to reservations made at state parks.

“We all wish that we could have been done a long time ago,” Robinson said. “It simply is a matter of the challenge of building an operating budget and all of the policy and working of funding K-12.”

State Government Shutdown

Washington lawmakers are preparing to be briefed Thursday on details of a bipartisan compromise on a two-year state operating budget as staffers race to finish the lengthy bill.

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Legislative leaders had initially said that the budget and other related documents would be posted publicly at noon Thursday, but later had to amend that, saying they won't be available until Thursday night. Democratic Rep. June Robinson, who has been part of the budget negotiations, said that exhausted staffers are trying to get the complicated bill done as quickly as possible in time for a vote Friday.

"It's an incredibly complex document to put together," she said. "We want to make sure that what we put out is accurate. They are working as fast as they possibly can."

The Democratic-controlled House and Republican-led Senate have been struggling for months to find a compromise on a budget that addresses a state Supreme Court mandate on education funding. They reached agreement on the budget after overnight negotiations that ended Wednesday morning. They are in the midst of a third overtime session, and if a new budget isn't signed into law by midnight Friday, a partial shutdown starts Saturday.